Allen & Overy, Ropes & Gray, Morgan Lewis: Business of Law

Dec. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Allen & Overy LLP hired Tran Anh Duc
to head the firm’s Hanoi branch. Duc will co-head the banking
and corporate practices alongside Adam Moncrieff, who recently
relocated from the Tokyo office. Duc, who has been in practice
for 18 years, was previously the managing partner at Vilaf, a
local Vietnam law firm.

Duc’s practice is a blend of corporate and banking work,
with a focus on large scale power projects and debt and equity
capital market issuances, the firm said. The addition of Duc
will bring the Vietnam team to 18 lawyers across both the Hanoi
and Ho Chi Minh City offices.

“The combination of our on-the-ground team together with
the addition of Duc will put Allen & Overy in an unique position
when competing in this market,” Allen & Overy’s Vietnam
managing partner Dao Nguyen said. “We are highly ambitious and
we believe Duc’s appointment will help us to achieve top tier
recognition across all our core practice areas.”

Allen & Overy announced the launch of its Vietnam office in
May 2012. The addition of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City increased
Allen & Overy’s network to 42 offices in 29 countries around the
world.

Berkshire Partners plans to merge the two companies, which
will be run by Lightower Chief Executive Officer Rob Shanahan,
according to a statement. M/C Partners and Pamlico Capital
acquired Lightower from National Grid Plc in 2007. Pamlico, the
former private-equity unit of Wachovia Corp. before it was
purchased by Wells Fargo & Co., will remain an investor in the
new business, as will Sidera backer Abry Partners.

The Ropes & Gray team was led by private equity partner
Taylor Hart and included finance partner Sunil Savkar.

The Covington team included partners Mace Rosenstein, Yaron
Dori and Matt DelNero.

Alston & Bird’s team was led by Bryan Ives. Additional
partners included David Lowance, corporate; Andy Immerman, tax,
and Paul Cushing, finance.

Berkshire Partners has raised $11 billion since it was
co-founded in 1984 by a group including Brad Bloom and Richard
Lubin, previously of Boston-based buyout firm Thomas H. Lee
Partners LP. Berkshire Partners’ prior investments in
communications companies include the acquisition last year of
Telx Group Inc., for which it teamed up with Abry Partners, also
based in Boston.

Lightower and Sidera build high-capacity networks for
customers such as data-center operators, commercial buildings
and financial exchanges. Combined, they will have 20,000 miles
of network in the northeast, mid-Atlantic and Midwest.

Barnes & Noble shares rose as much as 9.7 percent even
after the New York-based company said holiday sales were below
expectations and the Nook unit won’t meet its projection for
fiscal 2013. Publisher Pearson’s investment values Nook at $1.79
billion, more than twice Barnes & Noble’s market capitalization.

Barnes & Noble is getting a second large investor for the
Nook business, which includes digital and college-book
businesses, after Microsoft’s April investment valued the
division at about $1.7 billion. The bookstore chain has been
losing money as it develops and markets the Nook to take
advantage of a growing preference for digital books.

Pearson, the London-based owner of a U.S. education
publishing business and Penguin Books, is spending $89.5 million
in cash for the Nook stake, according to a statement. After the
transaction, Barnes & Noble will own 78.2 percent of the Nook
unit and Microsoft will hold 16.8 percent. Pearson will have the
option to purchase as much as an additional 5 percent, according
to the statement.

Sherman, who along with teammate Brandon Browner tested
positive for an undisclosed substance, appealed last month based
on errors in the chain of custody of his sample and because of
mistakes made by the tester, ESPN said. News of the initial ban
was reported Nov. 26 and the substance in question was the
prescription drug Adderall, a stimulant used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, ESPN said.

“We are very pleased that the hearing officer recognized
that the egregious errors that occurred with Mr. Sherman’s
collection required overturning the NFL’s discipline,” Suh said
in a statement. “Mr. Sherman provided honest testimony about a
severely flawed process, and the hearing officer found him to be
a credible man.”

George Atallah, a spokesman for the NFL Players
Association, confirmed the ruling to USA Today.

The NFL’s drug agreement with its players’ union includes a
confidentiality agreement that precludes all parties, including
the players, from discussing test results publicly.

“We are reviewing the decision, but decline comment at
this time due to the confidentiality provision of the program,”
Greg Aiello, a spokesman for the NFL, said in an e-mail.

Dave Pearson, a spokesman for the Seahawks, said in an e-mail that the team would defer to the league.

The 24-year-old Sherman has seven interceptions this season
for the Seahawks, who are 10-5 and have clinched a playoff
berth. He had an interception and returned a blocked field-goal
try 90 yards for a score on Dec. 23 as Seahawks beat the San
Francisco 49ers 42-13.

For more, click here.

HP Says Justice Department Has Opened Autonomy Investigation

The U.S. Justice Department opened an investigation
relating to Autonomy Corp. after Hewlett-Packard Co. accused the
software company of misrepresenting its performance before being
bought last year.

Justice Department representatives informed the company on
Nov. 21 of the probe, Hewlett-Packard said Dec. 27 in its annual
10-K regulatory filing. The computer maker booked an $8.8
billion writedown related to Autonomy last month after finding
that some revenue had been recorded prematurely or improperly.

Hewlett-Packard is cooperating with authorities while Chief
Executive Officer Meg Whitman works to turn around the company
after years of botched deals, management tumult and strategic
missteps. Palo Alto, California-based Hewlett-Packard also said
it’s providing information to the Serious Fraud Office in the
U.K. and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Former Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch, who left Hewlett-Packard in
May and refutes the company’s allegations, struck a $10.3
billion deal last year with Whitman’s predecessor, Leo
Apotheker, to sell the company he co-founded.

Michael Thacker, a spokesman for Hewlett-Packard, declined
to comment Dec. 28 beyond details in the filing.

“We will co-operate with any investigation and look
forward to the opportunity to explain our position,” Lynch
wrote in a statement Dec. 27. “We continue to reject these
allegations in the strongest possible terms.”

In a subsequent statement Dec. 28, Lynch said Hewlett-Packard is “backtracking” by not publishing more specific
details about its writedown.

“It is time for Meg Whitman to stop making allegations and
start offering explanations,” he said.

Hewlett-Packard also said in the filing that it’s facing
several shareholder lawsuits related to the Autonomy purchase.

For more, click here.

Audio

Newhouse on Supreme Court Case on Drug-Sniffing Dogs

George Newhouse, a partner at Brown White & Newhouse LLP
and a former California federal prosecutor, discusses Supreme
Court oral arguments in two cases involving two drug-sniffing
police dogs in Florida.

The Justices questioned what limits should apply to police
dogs trained to detect illegal drugs. He talks with June Grasso
on Bloomberg Radio’s “Bloomberg Law.”